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Crematory operator pleads not guilty to some charges

Tri-State trial

Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003

By Bill PooveyAssociated Press

LAFAYETTE - A former crematory operator accused of dumping decaying bodies around his family business and passing off dirt and cement dust as cremated remains pleaded not guilty Tuesday to some charges, but withheld pleas on most of the 787 counts against him.

Ray Brent Marsh, 29, pleaded not guilty to 122 counts of burial service fraud and 47 counts of making false statements. Marsh's attorney Ken Poston said his client was withholding pleas on 179 counts of abuse of a body and 439 counts of theft by taking, describing those charges as ''defective.''

Superior Court Judge James Bodiford said hearings would be held Nov. 17-18 to discuss dozens of motions filed in the case, including a defense request for change of venue. The judge did not set a trial date but said he wanted to ''expedite the case and move it along.''

''We are not going to go so fast that we skip justice,'' he said in ruling out the possibility of a trial this year.

Marsh, who is free on bond but required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle, was expressionless at Tuesday's brief hearing, answering only ''Yes, sir'' when the judge asked him if everything had been addressed during the hearing.

When investigators first searched the Tri-State Crematory property in northwest Georgia on Feb. 15, 2002, they found heaps of decaying bodies that were supposed to have been cremated. Bodies were spilling out of a storage shed and scattered around the crematory building and nearby woods.

Marsh is accused of stashing 334 bodies at the crematory in the Noble community, located in a pine grove near U.S. 27 about 20 miles from Chattanooga, Tenn. About 225 bodies have been identified.

In Poston's motion for change of venue, he cited reports from law enforcement of death threats, extensive media coverage and the ''manageability of holding a trial in an area where 2,300 families have expressed that they feel victimized by the defendant.''

The venue motion said Marsh, who is black, has been subject to racial slurs and endured an atmosphere of derogatory remarks from people in the community. The motion also said the ''defendant has information that the Ku Klux Klan, an organization with a chapter in Walker County, has claimed to be 'monitoring' the defendant.''

A Walker County grand jury in August indicted the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football player on the 787 felony counts.

Funeral homes from Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia used the crematory, authorities said.

In addition to the criminal case, hundreds of people are suing Marsh for failing to perform cremations.

Marsh also is charged in Bradley County, Tenn., with six felony counts of abuse of a corpse.

The charges in Tennessee alleged that Marsh picked up bodies and transported them to the crematory, then allegedly returned to Tennessee funeral homes what were purported to be those cremated human remains.